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Computing for Kids
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 Do You Know What Your Kids Are Looking At On the Internet?
If you are like most parents, you probably don't know what your kids looking at on the Internet unless you're standing right over their shoulders. More often than not kids stumble across objectionable content completely by accident. Once a "bad" site link has been opened, there is usually a flood of pornography (sometimes called a "porn-ado") that can only be stopped by shutting down the computer. Not only is your child subjected to graphic sexual content, your computer is usually infected by spyware, adware and possibly even viruses. So what's a parent to do? You simply can't be looking over their shoulders every time they go online. But there are several things you can do to keep your kids safe.
Install a Parental Control program. There are several parental control programs that allow you to determine the types of sites that your child can view (here are some good reviews of popular software packages). A good package will come with a "black list" of known bad sites that is constantly updated. A good package will also grow with your child, allowing you to ease the restrictions on the content that can be view and your child matures. Most have logs that will allow you to review the sites your child has visited - or tried to visit. Many will also track your child's use of Instant Messaging (IM) and will actually prevent your child from posting potentially dangerous information such as addresses and phone numbers.
A couple of our favorite parental control programs are Cyber Patrol and NetNanny. Both offer free trials and can be configured to manage most of your child's Internet experience. You can even limit how much time a child can spend on the Internet each day as well as the hours in which your child is allowed to surf the Web. In some ways this software can be overwhelming given the sheer number of controls that you can tweak, but in most cases the defaults will work just fine. Still, we encourage you to experiment with the trial versions and see how well the program will block the content you find objectionable.
 Talk to your kids. They certainly talk to each other. We all know kids will talk to each other about anything that is sick, scary, or otherwise deemed to be taboo. Let your kids know that there are people who put awful things on the Internet, and that these people are trying to trick kids - and adults - into viewing bad pictures. Teach them how to shut down the computer in the event of a "porn-ado" and have them tell you what happened before restarting the computer. Your children need to know that this bad thing is not their fault and that it is OK to tell an adult that something bad happened. We often hear about situations where a child was afraid to tell Mom or Dad about what happened on the computer for fear of getting in trouble. When this happens, viruses, spyware and adware can choke a computer and cause you to have to spend hundreds of dollars (not to mention the lost data) to get your computer cleaned up.
 Surf with your children! There is no better way to help your kids find wholesome sites that can broaden their horizons and enrich their minds than to sit down with them and help them find the good sites. You can plan in advance and bookmark sites that contain kid-friendly content such as PBS Kids and Nickelodeon. If you come up with sites that you want your child to visit, and bookmark them, then your child will be more likely to visit sites you are comfortable with. When a child is left to search for sites that interest them, the chances of finding a "bad" site increase drastically. It's an underhanded trick, but pornographers and people who want to spread viruses and such will purchases site names that are similar to popular sites and put questionable content on them hoping someone will drop in. For example nickleodeon.com and nick.com are quite different. Which one would you go to looking for the popular children's network?
Looking For More?
Log in to the Byte Slaves Lounge to find out about Granny Jean and her outstanding parenting tips. You might also want to check out the kid-friendly games in the Byte Slaves Store. They're fun, they're popular, and they're affordable.
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